The present invention relates generally to an appliance controller, and more particularly relates to a distributed appliance control system including a system for fault isolation.
Prior art appliance control systems, such as those for gas-fired water heating appliances, have not provided users of the appliance with systems which are simple and convenient to maintain, repair, customize and upgrade. In this regard, prior art appliance control systems have not provided modularity in their design which would facilitate maintenance, repair, customization and upgrade of the control system. Moreover, these prior art systems have not provided detailed diagnostics which lead service technicians to the source of a malfunction in the control system or the appliance being controlled. These drawbacks to prior art control systems are particularly evident in relatively complex appliances such as multi-stage boilers, which include a plurality of burner chambers and burners.
The present invention addresses these and other drawbacks of prior art appliance control system designs to provide a control system which has a greater degree of simplicity and convenience with regard to appliance maintenance, repair, customization, upgrade and operation.
According to the present invention there is provided an appliance controller for controlling an associated gas appliance having at least one gas-fired burner means, the appliance controller comprising: one or more ignition control means, each ignition control means controlling ignition of an associated gas-fired burner means; a host computer for controlling operation of the one or more ignition control means; and a communications medium for facilitating communication between the host computer and the one or more ignition control means.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention there is provided an appliance controller for controlling an associated gas appliance having at least one heating means, the appliance controller comprising: one or more heat control means, each heat control means controlling activation and deactivation of an associated heating means; a host computer for controlling operation of the one or more heat control means; and a communications medium for facilitating communication between the host computer and the one or more heat control means.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for isolating a fault condition of an appliance, comprising the steps of: receiving status information indicative of the state of a plurality of components of the appliance; inputting the status information in parallel into a shift register; outputting the status information from the shift register in serial; receiving the output status information into a processing means; evaluating the received status information to determine if a fault condition exists; and displaying a signal indicative of the fault condition.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an appliance controller for controlling an associated gas appliance having at least one gas-fired burner means, the appliance controller comprising: a control means for controlling ignition of an associated gas-fired burner means; and a blower for blowing air into a combustion chamber, wherein said blower has at least two different operating speeds, said operating speed determined by said control means.
An advantage of the present invention is the provision of an appliance control system having distributed subsystems.
Another advantage of the present invention is the provision of an appliance control system having a modular design which facilitates customization, maintenance, repair, and upgrade of the control system.
Still another advantage of the present invention is the provision of an appliance control system which is simple and convenient to customize, maintain, repair, and upgrade.
Yet another advantage of the present invention is the provision of an appliance control system having a modular design which facilitates customization, maintenance, repair, and upgrade of the control system.